


Betty/Betsy

by bittmanns (athenaeums)



Series: Coming Out [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, Closeted Character, Gay Male Character, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 11:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6853594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athenaeums/pseuds/bittmanns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack can feel the panic rising, and the bile in his mouth but he just can’t bring himself to lie. He can’t bring himself to lie about Eric. “No,” is all he says though, swinging his bag over his shoulder and making a hasty exit. It’s not until he’s out in the parking lot that he realises his heart is hammering in his chest, and he’s not breathing. He gets in his car and dials without even thinking about it, without acknowledging who it is he’s calling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Betty/Betsy

**Author's Note:**

> This just... sort of happened. I've fallen into OMGCP! and I can't get out.

“Why doesn’t he ever talk about his girl?” Jack is leaving the showers when he accidentally hears the conversation by the lockers. 

“Do you think she exists?” One of the other guys laughs, another slapping him on the back in agreement.

“I’ve heard him on the phone to her, anyone know her name?” The first guy says. Jack hasn’t been with the team for too long and he can’t quite figure out their voices - not that it matters. He doesn’t need to know who is discussing his love life or speculating about the existence of his girlfriend. He could laugh, with how accurate their surmising is so far, if it didn’t make him feel sick.

“I’ve heard him say, like, Betty or Bets a couple of times. Maybe Betsy?” Someone suggests. “Betsy sounds like she could bake, which makes sense.”

Jack wants to run from the room, or turn back to the showers and douse himself in freezing cold water. At the sound of Betsy escaping his teammates mouth, the suggestion that Betsy and baking is a girl’s habit, he feels a punch in the stomach and overwhelming sadness. What would they say if they knew it was Eric, it was Bittle. Would it be so bad? 

As soon as he thinks it, he wants to go to his locker and punch the crap out of it. He’s a terrible boyfriend. How can he just stand there and let those guys reduce his wonderful, kind, and god - so patient, understanding - boyfriend, partner to a mere Betsy that bakes? Why can’t he round the corner and tell them that actually Eric is a figure skating champion, that Bittle is the fastest skater on the Samwell team, that Bitty is the most compassionate and good-natured person he’s ever known? 

“Honey... this is your career,” he can hear Bittle saying in his head and he knows he’s right. He is right. It’s not worth losing his entire career over two seconds of mooning over Bittle to his teammates. He’s about to lose himself in thoughts of how Bittle deserves better when Tater claps him on the back as he walks on by. He gives him a look. Not just a glance, or a smile. He’s almost, sympathetic? Jack is sure he’s imagining it so he summons a weak smile in response and eventually finds his way to his locker. He laughs off the questions about Betsy and ignores the requests to come over for dinner so that they can find out how well she really bakes.

“That is her name, right? You’ve never said but we kind of assumed.” One of the guys asks.

Jack can feel the panic rising, and the bile in his mouth but he just can’t bring himself to lie. He can’t bring himself to lie about Eric. “No,” is all he says though, swinging his bag over his shoulder and making a hasty exit. It’s not until he’s out in the parking lot that he realises his heart is hammering in his chest, and he’s not breathing. He gets in his car and dials without even thinking about it, without acknowledging who it is he’s calling.

“Hey, handsome,” Bittle’s sweet voice answers after a few rings.

“Hi, Bits,” Jack says wearily. “Are you still coming to visit this weekend?”

There is a slight pause but then he hears Bittle chuckle quietly. “My day was great, thanks for asking. How about yours? Of course I’m still visiting!” He exclaims. “Unless...” 

Jack is feeling uneasy again, his insecurities trying to get the better of him and his anxiety clouding his judgment. Maybe Bittle has finally realised he’s not worth the effort. For a split second he entertains the idea that Bittle somehow knows that he almost let his team think he had a girlfriend named Betsy, but he takes a deep breath to stave his paranoia instead. “Unless?” He rests his head on the steering wheel and runs his free hand through his still-damp hair.

“Unless it will make things difficult for you. You know how much I want to see you but not if it’s going to make you feel uncomfortable.” Bittle is trying to sound reassuring but Jack knows him well enough by now to know that if Jack told him not to come, it would devastate him.

He thinks back to the locker room and he knows that it would only take one smart player to connect Betsy with the name Bittle when they hear it, but with Bittle’s voice in his ear and the thought of him by his side should anyone figure it out, he finds he can release the breath he’d been holding in and it all seems a little less impossible.

“Shut up, Bittle,” He admonishes. “I want you to visit.”

“Great!” Bittle grins - Jack can hear it in his voice. “Shall I bring a pie? Can you eat pie with your crazy diet? Should I bring just a slice?”

Jack laughs a little and sits back in his seat. “Bittle, I...” he begins. “I... I need you to visit.” It’s as vulnerable as he will allow himself to be when he’s sat in his car, in the parking lot, talking to his secret boyfriend. Bittle sighs.

“All right, sweetheart,” he says. “I’ll be there in a few days.”

Jack is a terrible boyfriend. He’s needy, clingy and he’s closed-off. He’s making Bittle lie to everyone and there’s no immediate end in sight. Why Bittle wants him remains a mystery, but he finds that actually - he doesn’t mind. He knows, he hopes, that this won’t be forever. One day he will be able to bring in a pie for the team and tell them that Eric Bittle made it and tell them that he loves him. One day hearing the name Betsy won’t feel like a blow to the chest and they’ll all be able to laugh about it. Jack knows these things because it’s all that keeps him going after days like this one. “Bits, I...” he tries. He told Bittle that he loved him once but he can’t quite get it out again. It doesn’t mean that he’s stopped though.

“I know, Jack. Now, you’d better start planning our weekend because I’m not going to just sit in your apartment baking all day and if that’s what you were hoping...”


End file.
